Article carriers for motor vehicles are well known in the art. Typically, an article carrier will have a cross rail assembly with opposite ends engaging longitudinal side rails mounted on the vehicle. Each end will have a locking or clamping mechanism to lock the cross member in place and to secure the load placed thereon.
Several prior art article carriers, such as the ones disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,190,198 and 4,294,388, are able to be disengaged from one side of the vehicle.
However, the mechanisms for ganging the locking or clamping mechanism on one side to the other side are complicated and thus difficult and expensive to manufacture. As a result, article carriers in which the cross rail assembly can be adjusted longitudinally from one side of the vehicle have not yet seen significant commercial success.